‘Attempts to suppress and subvert’: Public servants’ attempts to dodge RTI requests exposed

Senior Queensland public servants have sensationally described records being deliberately suppressed or even renamed in an attempt to stop information being leaked to the media.

Senior public servants have described records being deliberately suppressed over fear of information ending up in the media, with crucial reports even renamed in an attempt to dodge Right to Information requests.

Professor Peter Coaldrake’s integrity report into the Queensland government was scathing about a “trend” in the public sector to use the Right to Information Act to withhold, rather than release, information.

“We should not underestimate the level of apprehension, even fear, within departments about the consequences of being ‘caught’ by an RTI request. This situation fosters a culture predisposed to nondisclosure,” the report found.

“A number of people who have made representation to this Review have referred to a ‘fear’ that documents procured through the RTI process may end up in newspapers or on television and, particularly, a concern that if ‘frank and fearless’ advice was given and not followed, a subsequent RTI request would result.”

A total of 28 submissions were made to the review regarding RTI legislation or the role of the Information Commissioner.

The report also took aim at the possibility of the Information Commissioner’s role as being the one which can be “especially influenced by the culture of government”.

“That same culture is assuredly influenced by the spectre of exposure through the Right to Information mechanism,” the report found, adding the value of this “should not be underestimated in creating a more open government”.

“One way in which the Information Commissioner can oversight the culture within agencies is through the external review function, by which the Information Commissioner investigates and reviews decisions of agencies and ministers made under the RTI Act,” it stated. “That includes determining whether agencies and ministers have taken reasonable steps to identify and locate documents sought by applicants.”

The bulk of the 14 submissions made by current or former public servants on the topic were critical of the culture around RTI requests, with one senior executive describing “attempts to suppress public records and subvert RTI processes”.

One submission alleged “important operational reports which previously had been the subject of RTI requests by other political parties were now given a different name and sent to different recipients in order to avoid those reports being captured in future”.

It also described information being presented in “dashboard” formats, due to them being more difficult to access through RTI requests.

“All these indicate worrying patterns,” the report found.

A submission from Brisbane Residents United said formerly freely available information “is now difficult to find, expensive and difficult to access”.

“Government departments must be prepared to defend a decision publicly. Is it the right decision if it is justified on spurious grounds or has to be kept from the public,” the submission said.